>> Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:16:22 -0400
> From: "Michael T. Dean" <mtdean at thirdcontact.com>
> On 03/24/2009 10:36 PM, Shawn Rutledge wrote:
>> It seems you can actually buy solar cells
>> that look like shingles now ("roof integrated", they call it), but
>> they still cost more. I don't get it; this technology should be
>> cheaper than making the single-crystal cells.
The company making the shingles stopped making them. I do not know why.
When I wanted to put SPV panels on my roof that was the first thing I
looked for. I also do not know if they will start making them again. I
suspect that there were reliability issues which were eating up all their
profits. I don't remember the exact evidence, but something about the
wording of the announcement of the stoppage gave me that impression. At
least that's what my internal marketing-speak translator came up with.
> who have a plant
> that's manufacturing rolls of "goop" that's not a
> crystalline-silicon-based solar cell that designed to be the same size
> as a shingle, but is really just a thing file on top of a real tar
> shingle.
> manufacturing process is churning out 1-mile-long
> rolls of it). They've sold something like the next 3 years of
> production, already.
>> I think this may actually be the same thing you're talking about (it's a
> thin-film PV device using amorphous Si, rather than crystalline silicon,
It's a different technology from the original shingle idea, but may be the
second thing to which Shawn referred.
As I understand it, it's manufactured with something a lot like inkjet
technology. They have a way of (almost) printing the cells and they are
flexible.
It is (so the article I read said) cheaper to manufacture than traditional
silicon based PV cells but also generates less electricity per
area*sunlight.
So, you can cover your roof for less, but you'll get less total energy out
of the deal. Depending on the exact price point for a full installation,
it might expand the areas where it makes economic sense. However, it
still won't generate all or even most of the electricity that a typical
household uses on the average.
Jeff Walther